I-Team: Injunction Filed to Fight Wild Horse Roundup

 Chief Investigative Reporter George Knapp and Photojournalist Matt Adams

I-Team: Injunction Filed to Fight Wild Horse Roundup

Posted: Dec 16, 2009 8:06 PM EST Updated: Dec 16, 2009 8:10 PM EST  

The fate of thousands of Nevada's wild horses was on the line Wednesday in the nation's capital. Advocates for the horses asked a federal judge to stop a massive roundup planned for later this month in northern Nevada.

The focus of the court battle is the proposed Calico roundup. The Bureau of Land Management says it needs to remove 2,700 horses from an area larger than 500,000 acres and it needs to happen even in brutal winter weather. Advocates for the horses argued the BLM action is cruel, dangerous and clearly illegal.

"The whole idea of the Wild Horse Act was the horse living in its natural state on the continent of its origin. Now that's being perverted and they are being made into slave horses, against their will and against the will of the people," said Wildlife Ecologist Craig Downer.

Downer is one of two Nevadans who lent their names to the lawsuit filed in Washington by the group In Defense of Animals to stop BLM in its tracks.

BLM had planned to start the roundup December 7, 2009 but delayed its plans for a few weeks. Unless Judge Paul Friedman orders otherwise, BLM will unleash its wranglers and choppers on December 28, 2009. The three-month project could cost $1.7 million in taxpayer money and remove 90-percet of the estimated 3,000 horses that live on more than half a million otherwise empty acres of public land.

The Calico gather is one of many on the BLM schedule. The bureau wants to capture another 12,000 horses to join the 33,000 already living in government pens. Earlier this year, Downer said the BLM's new found sense of urgency goes too far. "It's totally in your face extremism. It's a bold faced attempt to obliterate, and those few they leave, they sterilize them, cut them down to such miserably low numbers that they will become inbred or some rancher is going to come out and shoot the rest of them," he said.

In its public statements, BLM argues it needs to remove the horses right away to protect the range from overgrazing, even though last year the bureau approved an increase in cattle grazing in the very same range, saying then that damage from horses was negligible.

The lawyer representing Downer and the other parties thinks a winter roundup will kill many of the mustangs but his arguments in federal court focused on the law. "It does not include a roundup such as what is contemplated here. In fact, it is quite the opposite," said attorney Bill Spriggs.

Spriggs told the judge that the law lays out specific steps that must be taken before mustangs can be removed from public land, and that BLM hasn't followed any of them in the Calico Hills. He further argued BLM has no legal authority to warehouse horses in out-of-state holding pens, which is where most of them end up, in part because BLM puts minimal effort into adopting them out.

The judge said that if he agrees with the argument and stops the roundup, he's concerned what would become of the horses already captured. Mustang advocates say its BLM's own fault for not following the law. "That was a self-inflicted wound since they're spending 70-percent of their budget on horses in Kansas and should have spent it managing the horses in the first place," said Spriggs.

Because the roundup is slated to begin December 28, a decision on the preliminary injunction will have to come soon, most likely by next week. If it is granted, the mustang advocates will have the time to launch a much broader legal assault on the BLM's entire approach to the wild horse issue.

The I-Team special report on wild horses, Stampede to Oblivion, is re-airing this Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. and it covers many of the central issues in this debate.

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America's Wild Horses - A Study in Mismanagement

How the US Government is eradicating an American icon

Over the past 30 years, under pressure from special interest groups and in blatant disregard of the public’s wishes, the BLM has systematically favored subsidized livestock grazing on public lands to the detriment of wild horse populations. The Burns Amendment, slipped into the 2005 federal budget without so much as a hearing or opportunity for public review, was the last nail in the coffin of federal wild horse protection, opening the door to the slaughter of thousands of these living symbols of our Nation’s spirit. A few months later, while in the process of rounding up another 10,000 horses supposedly due to poor range conditions, BLM eased public land grazing restrictions for private cattle. Now BLM is considering simply killing "excess" horses to help balance its budget.

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In 1971, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), an agency of the U.S. Department of Interior, was put in charge of implementing the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act. When the Act was passed, the U.S. Senate stated: "An intensive management program of breeding, branding, and physical care would destroy the very concept that this legislation seeks to preserve […], leaving the animals alone to fend for themselves and placing primary emphasis on protecting the animals from continued slaughter and harassment by man." Sadly, this Congressional mandate has been ignored and, over the past thirty-five years, no strategic plan to keep viable herds of wild horses on public lands was ever developed. 

Pursuant to the 1971 Act, BLM is directed to protect and manage wild free-roaming horses and burros as components of the public lands, and may designate and maintain specific ranges on public lands as sanctuaries for their protection and preservation. Yet, its management policy has translated into a diligent and steady herd reduction campaign, causing America’s wild horse population to dwindle to less than 25,000 and to lose 19 million acres of its legally allocated range.
Approximately 36,000 wild horses and burros adopted through BLM’s Adopt-A-Horse program are unaccounted for, and in 1997, BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program Director conceded that about ninety percent of rounded up horses ended up at slaughter. Questioned off-the-record, BLM employees routinely acknowledge rampant mismanagement and disregard for the 1971 Act (see Case Study #1). 


In 1992, wild horses and burros were left out of BLM’s revised mission statement altogether.

“Excess Animals”: A Very Nebulous Concept


The 1971 Act requires that wild horses "be considered in the area where presently found, as an integral part of the natural system of the public lands." The Act also defines "range" as “the amount of land necessary to sustain an existing herd or herds of wild free-roaming horses and burros, which does not exceed their known territorial limits, and which is devoted principally but not necessarily exclusively to their welfare, in keeping with the multiple-use management concept for public lands." By law, only “excess animals” should be removed from the range. It is therefore how BLM determines “excess” that will shape the entire Wild Horse and Burro Program. 


The legal requirement that “excess” be determined based on population monitoring and inventory has been circumvented by allowing BLM to determine “excess” based on whatever information is in its possession at the time a decision is made, rather than requiring that relevant information (such as actual census numbers) be obtained. In fact, only four percent of BLM’s wild horse and burro budget is allocated to population inventory. The legal requirement that BLM consider the “recommendations of qualified scientists in the field of biology and ecology, some of whom shall be independent of both Federal and State agencies,” has also been circumvented or ignored. 

© Laurel Monreal Photography horsesofnature.com

“Excess” is simply determined on paper, using grossly inflated fertility rates (up to 25%, whereas the National Academy of Sciences estimates actual growth rates to be closer to 10%) and generalized data that does not take into account the specificity of each geographic area (foaling rates, mortality rates and foal survival rates can vary greatly from one area to the next). This questionable methodology leads to highly inaccurate population estimates (e.g. an 800% discrepancy in the Salt Wells HMA - WY, 2006). 


In conjunction with flawed population monitoring, BLM relies on the notion of “Appropriate Management Level” (AML) to determine “excess.” AMLs dictate how many horses and burros can be allowed on the range, and therefore what constitutes “excess.” AMLs are the single most important tool in BLM’s arsenal. They are also a moving target: once AML is reached in an area, meaning the wild horse population is deemed at an acceptable level, it is often subsequently lowered, paving the way for more round-ups (e.g. in 2001, the national wild horse AML was drastically lowered to 26,000; since then, it has crept down by a few hundred every year, adding up to a further loss of 1,500 as of 2006). 

AML for a given Herd Management Area (HMA) is based on forage and water availability, or rather, forage and water allocation. Case study after case study have shown that BLM consistently allocates substantially more forage to private livestock and game animals on the very areas that were legally designated for wild horses (e.g. 700% more forage allocated to livestock than to horses in the Stone Cabin Complex - NV, 2007), steadily reducing wild horse AMLs, sometimes to the point of eradication (the so-called “zeroing out” of a herd area). 


Likewise, only a small fraction of water available in a given area will be allocated to wild horses (e.g. 7% in the Spring Mountain Complex - NV, 2006), who will then be removed due to supposed lack of water, while livestock and game animals are allowed to thrive in areas that, by law, were to be “devoted principally” to wild horses (see Case Study #2). Case in point: bighorn sheep can be found on seventy-five percent of Nevada’s Muddy Mountain HMA and are allocated water from the National Park Service (NPS), water guzzlers and specially made dams. These water developments have allowed the HMA to be turned from seasonal into year-round bighorn habitat, a victory for the local hunting lobby, but are not taken into account in determining wild horse and burro AMLs for the area, despite a federal mandate that “all range improvements […] be installed, used, maintained and/or modified on public lands […] in a manner consistent with multiple-use application” (43 CFR 4120.3-1 (A)).


Another critical piece of federal regulation states: “If necessary to provide habitat for wild horses or burros, to implement herd management actions, or to protect wild horses or burros from disease, harassment or injury, the authorized officer may close appropriate areas of the public lands to grazing use by all or a particular kind of livestock.” (43 CFR 4710.5 (A)) This provision is also routinely ignored.

More Round-Ups


Round-ups (or “gathers,” to use a placating BLM euphemism), are BLM’s “management” tool of choice: the fewer horses on public lands, the more convenient for public land managers and special interest groups. Oftentimes, livestock is restocked shortly after wild horses have been removed (e.g. about 1,000 sheep reportedly brought in the Dry Lake Complex just a couple of weeks after 200 horses had been removed from that same area - NV, 2006; ten-year grazing permit granted for 6,882 head of cattle in New Pass Ravenswood HMA the same month as 692 horses are removed from the same HMA due to "lack of forage" - NV, Oct. 2007). 


In addition to the concept of “excess animals,” BLM has several tools at its disposal to justify round-ups. Early on, BLM did not capture wild horses who ranged out of their herd boundaries. Today, if wild horses step out of their boundaries, BLM removes them permanently from public lands. In the state of Nevada, home to about seventy percent of our nation’s wild herds, horses found outside of their federal boundaries are treated as stray animals and sold at auction, usually ending up at slaughter. 


Another well-established BLM practice is to thin out herds to the point where they are no longer deemed genetically viable, and then use the threat of in-breeding as an excuse to zero out such herds completely. It has been estimated that up to three-fourths of our remaining wild horse and burro herds are below population levels that would guarantee their long-term survival. Sex ratios in wild horse herds normally average 50/50. To further affect viability, BLM will stack herds with seventy percent of males, severely disrupting herd dynamics and behavioral patterns. 
Still, BLM’s most often used rationale for round-ups is the threat of starvation and drought conditions: so-called “emergency gathers” are another way for BLM to circumvent the legal requirement that only “excess” animals be rounded up. 


Whereas private cattle and sheep are promptly restocked, if in fact they were removed at all (e.g. almost 50% of the total estimated horse population removed from the Ely District following brush fires, but no reduction in authorized livestock for the 23 affected grazing allotments - NV, 2006), horses are not returned to the area after the “emergency” conditions subside. BLM simply makes the zeroing out of the HMA official by issuing an AML of zero: a wild horse range originally managed under the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act is now permanently devoid of wild horses (e.g. Blue Nose Peak HMA, AML of 1 - NV, 2003). Over the years, dozens of HMAs, representing millions of acres, have met this fate.

“This is not a Democracy”
(Jim Sparks, BLM District Manager, at a Sept. 2008 public hearing in Billings, MT)


A 1990 GAO report found that “in many areas where wild horse removals have taken place, BLM authorized livestock grazing levels have either not been reduced or have been increased thereby largely negating any reduction in forage consumption.”  In 1997, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility noted that “little has changed since the 1990 GAO report.  Wild horse management decisions continue to be made within the BLM on a political rather than scientific basis, and in the political balance between horse and cow, the cattle industry almost always wins.” (see Case Study #3)


Today, BLM continues to conduct indiscriminate round-ups, zeroing out herds in violation of the 1971 Act. In 2001, it obtained a 50% increase in annual budget to $29 million for implementation of an aggressive removal campaign (in 2005, that budget rose to $39 million). Twenty-four thousand horses were slated for capture; no long-term plan was put in place for these horses after their removal.

Case Studies
#1 - Jackson Mountain round-up/Palomino Valley deaths, NV, 2007
#2 - Nevada drought, 2004
#3 - Highland Peak HMA, NV, 2003-07
#4 - Wild burro status: critical analysis

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BLM Destroyed Another Wild Horse Herd While Advocates Sat At Advisory Meeting

Get MAD! Get VERY mad while there are still some wild horses left for us to protect! 

clipped from rtfitch.wordpress.com BLM Destroyed another Wild Horse Herd while Advocates sat at Advisory Meeting December 13, 2009 R.T. Fitch Leave a comment Go to comments BLM’s Don Glenn Openly Lied to Press and Advocates while Wild Horses were Rounded up article courtesy of  The Cloud Foundation Once free, their beautiful lives ruined - Palomino Valley 12/11/09 - Photo by K. McCovey Read The AP’s Martin Griffith’s 12-12-09 article on the Clandestine Buckhorn Roundup of 217 horses (San Francisco Chronicle, Examiner.com) Following the yet-unsolved shooting death of 6 federally-protected mustangs, more of America’s mustangs are removed; at least one mare has died to date. The discovery of shooting deaths of six wild horses on the California-Nevada border has led to the exposure of an apparently clandestine BLM roundup of over 200 horses. The roundup of the Buckhorn Wild Horses was scheduled to begin in August 2010.

Read more --

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A Win For The Horses!

 
H.R. 2996 is now law, Public Law 111-88, Interior Dept. and Continuing Appropriations, FY 2010. Under this law, BLM is prohibited from using any funds "for the destruction of healthy, unadopted, wild horses and burros in the care of the Bureau of Land Management or its contractors or for the sale of wild horses and burros that results in their destruction for processing into commercial products".

This is the mandate that was proposed by Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA, telling the Senate:


"We ... are down to just a few herds of horses. And the reason that i think that this is even more important than to just western states or the ranchers or landowners or humane society and others is because for the people generally, the idea of wild spaces with wild horses is something that is really part of our heritage. And we want to make sure that that heritage isn't lost, that we're being responsible in terms of the way the land is being used for multiple purposes and from the perspective of horse advocates, that the horses themselves are being treated fairly.
"And none of that right now is being done in the way that most people, i believe, would appreciate or would be satisfied with. There have been any number of studies that i'm going to submit to the record.
"Most recently, the congressional research service as well as the government accounting office has suggested major changes to the program. I'm just going to go through a few possible options. One, the creation of several public-private sanctuaries. This has been suggested by a few fairly high-profiled individuals in our country. The idea has merit. We are working with a variety of different groups along with the department to think about the possibility of creating public-private partnerships, large sanctuaries, maybe 500,000 or a million acres where thousands of wild horses could not only roam freely in a healthy way, but they also could potentially become ecotourist opportunities for some of the states and communities as it would be an attraction that could potentially make money and attract people out to some of these western areas. Or, for that matter, grant rural areas in other parts of the country.
"There is a possibility to make some smart investments to step up some of the adoption programs that might work. And there are any number of scientific and new technologies that can be brought to bear in terms of breed management, reproductive issues that could help us get a much more cost-effective, sane and humane approach to this problem. 

 This bill passed the Senate on September 25, 2009.
 
For more go to Animal Law Coalition

Image via Wikipedia Wild stallion Lazarus and part of his band in West Warm Springs HMA, OR

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FOIA Request Uncovers Unprecedented Evidence Horse Slaughter is Inhumane

FOIA Request Uncovers Unprecedented Evidence Horse Slaughter is Inhumane

Documents never before made public reveal the USDA was aware of extreme cruelty during horse slaughter at facilities in the U.S. The documents dispute claims horse slaughter in the U.S. was in any sense humane and instead reveal a brutal, terrifying ordeal that should be permanently banned.


Ithaca, New York (PRWEB) December 4, 2008 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has released a 906-page document revealing for the first time the alarming cruelty that takes place during horse slaughter in the U.S. The documents included almost nine hundred photographs. Information was obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request submitted 3 years ago by equine cruelty investigator Julie Caramante. Animals Angels assisted Caramante in obtaining the documents, and they are now working with Animal Law Coalition to assess and disseminate the information.

"I've been an equine cruelty investigator for a number of years," said Caramante, "and I've witnessed many incidents of animal cruelty but nothing could prepare me for these images."

The photographs document significant injuries to horses at the slaughter house. Injuries included conscious dismemberment, open fractures, blinding, and battered faces. It appears some horses were left to bleed out. Other injuries indicated long term abuse and neglect.

'The pain and terror these horses had endured is criminal," said Caramante.

In July, well before release of the documents, Dr. Nicholas Dodman of the Tufts School of Veterinary Medicine testified before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee describing horse slaughter as, " a brutal and predatory business that promotes cruelty and neglect," concluding that as a veterinarian a "rapid end to this wholly brutal and un-American trade" is warranted.

Horse slaughter in the U.S. ended in 2007 after the three remaining plants in Texas and Illinois were closed by state lawmakers and the courts. There is a federal bill pending in Congress that would prevent horse slaughter from resuming in states without laws prohibiting it.

Those in favor of horse slaughter have insisted horse slaughter should resume because they claim U.S. humane laws protect horses from cruelty, unlike Mexico and Canada where American horses are now sent to be slaughtered for human consumption in France, Belgium and some other countries.

Former Rep. Charlie Stenholm who is now a lobbyist for the horse slaughter plants, has called horse slaughter a safe, convenient way to dispose of horses. He has called it a "well-regulated industry" practicing "humane euthanasia". Stenholm has told the House Judiciary Committee horses are personal property and owners should be able to decide what to do with their property without government intervention.


Sonja Meadows, executive director of Animals' Angels, said, "We now know [from these new documents] that being on U.S. soil does not make horse slaughter humane or better. That this could go on even with the presence of USDA inspectors makes absolutely clear that horse slaughter is not euthanasia and definitely not a humane end."

Meadows is hopeful that the shocking evidence of the cruelty of horse slaughter in the USDA document will compel the new Congress to act swiftly to pass a federal ban on the transport and slaughter of American horses. "In 2006 the House voted by a wide margin, 263-146, to ban horse slaughter. But the session ended before the Senate could vote," she said. "Now, this new evidence removes any doubt. We must act quickly. We cannot allow horse slaughter to continue any longer."

About Animal Law Coalition and Animals' Angels

Animal Law Coalition works to stop animal cruelty and suffering through legislation, administrative agency action, and litigation. ALC offers legal analysis of the difficult and controversial issues relating to animals. Join ALC at http://www.animallawcoalition.com and together we can take action for animals nationally and in your state and community.

Animals' Angels is a 501 (c)(3) non profit organization with fulltime investigators in the United States and Canada. We work to end animal cruelty and abuse and to improve conditions for farm animals. Our investigators are out in the field every week, trailing livestock trucks on highways, visiting markets, collecting stations and slaughter plants. For more information please go to http://www.animals-angels.com.

The Ballad of Slaughterhouse Sue

This Glorious Presentation is dedicated to that tireless and dedicated Advocate of Horse Slaughter for Profit, the disgrace of Wyoming, your enemy and mine - Slaughterhouse Sue!

Okay, everyone - Get out your captive bolt pistols! Pull on your tall boots so the blood won't get on your good pants, and lets do the Slaughterhouse Boogie all around the old kill chute!

After the celebratin' is over, we can set down to a wonderful meal of Horse-meat Chili eaten off our beautiful horse hide tablecloth! Hey! The chili and the tablecloth were made from the same horse!

Yeehawwww!

Image via Wikipedia

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Calico Mustangs Given 28-Day Reprieve

Nevada Mustangs Given 28-Day Reprieve IDA Lawsuit Postpones Huge Wild Horse Roundup

Washington, DC (November 24, 2009) - The U.S. Department of Justice announced tonight that the massive roundup and removal of thousands of horses from public land in northwestern Nevada will be delayed until December 28 as a direct result of the filing of a lawsuit by In Defense of Animals and renowned ecologist Craig Downer on November 23.

Tomorrow, IDA and Mr. Downer plan to file a motion for a permanent injunction, with supporting affidavits from horse experts and eyewitnesses to Bureau of Land Management (BLM) roundups. The motion will ask Judge Paul L. Friedman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to stop the roundup altogether.

The roundup and removal of 80-90 percent of the estimated 3,055 wild horses living in the BLM’s Calico Mountain Complex was originally scheduled to begin December 1.  The BLM has received over 10,000 public comments in opposition to the roundup.

“We welcome this moratorium on the capture and inhumane treatment of the Calico horses,” said William Spriggs, Esq. of Buchanan, Ingersoll and Rooney, pro bono attorney for IDA and Mr. Downer. “The BLM plan for a massive helicopter roundup of these horses is entirely illegal.”

“We are confident that the court will agree that America’s wild horses are protected by law from BLM’s plan to indiscriminately chase and stampede them into corrals for indeterminate warehousing away from their established habitat,” he said. “The magnificent wild horses and burros of the American West are an important part of our national heritage and must be preserved.”

The Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act, passed unanimously by Congress in 1971, designated America’s wild horses and burros as “living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West,” specifying they “shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death … [and that] to accomplish this they are to be considered in the area where presently found, as an integral part of the natural system of public lands.”

Since 1971, the BLM has removed over 270,000 horses from their Western home ranges and taken away nearly 20 million acres of wild horse habitat.  Only 37,000 wild horses and burros remain on public lands in the West. By contrast, millions of cattle graze our public lands. Thirty-two thousand wild horses who have been removed from the range are already held in government holding facilities, and the BLM intends to round up 12,000 more horses in FY 2010.

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In Defense of Animals is an international animal protection organization located in San Rafael, Calif. dedicated to protecting animals’ rights, welfare, and habitat through education, outreach, and our hands-on rescue facilities in Mumbai, India, Cameroon, Africa, and rural Mississippi.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
IN DEFENSE OF ANIMALS  3010 KERNER BLVD.   SAN RAFAEL, CA 94901  415-448-0048

Lawsuit Filed To Halt Calico Roundup

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
November 23, 2009

Contacts: William Spriggs, Esq., (202) 452-6051;
                  Eric Kleiman, 717-939-3231
 

Lawsuit Filed to Halt Huge Wild Horse Roundup

Mass roundup of Nevada Wild Horses Inhumane and Illegal, Suit Charges


Washington, DC - In Defense of Animals (IDA) and ecologist Craig Downer today filed suit, in the federal U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, to stop the Bureau of Land Management's proposed massive roundup and removal of more than 2,700 wild horses from public lands in Nevada. The roundup, slated to begin in early December, will take virtually every wild horse living in the Calico Complex Herd Management Area in northwestern Nevada. It is by far the largest of any wild horse roundup planned by the BLM for Fiscal Year 2010.

"This suit aims to halt the inherent cruelty of the BLM's wild horse roundups, which traumatize, injure and kill horses, subvert the will of Congress and are entirely illegal," said William Spriggs, Esq., a partner at Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney and lead counsel on the law suit. The firm is representing IDA and Mr. Downer on a pro bono basis.

The suit alleges that the BLM plan to utilize helicopters to indiscriminately chase as many as 2,738 of the estimated 3,095 Calico horses into holding pens violates the Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act, passed unanimously in 1971. The Act designated America's wild horses and burros as "living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West," specifying they "shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death … [and that] to accomplish this they are to be considered in the area where presently found, as an integral part of the natural system of public lands.”

"Americans strongly support protecting wild horses on their natural ranges in the West." Mr. Spriggs continued. "We hope to stop the cruel roundups and mass stockpiling of wild horses and burros in government holding facilities while the Obama Administration crafts a new policy that protects these animals and upholds the will of Congress and the public’s desire to preserve this important part of our national heritage."

Since 1971, the BLM has removed over 270,000 horses from their Western home ranges and taken away nearly 20 million acres of wild horse habitat on public lands that were protected by Congress as being "necessary to sustain an existing herd or herds of wild horses and burros ... and ... is devoted principally ... to their welfare." The policy is based on the unsupportable claim that Western ranges cannot sustain wild horses and burros. These animals comprise a tiny fraction of animals grazing the range. An estimated 8 million livestock, but only 37,000 horses and burros, graze on public lands.
Thirty-two thousand wild horses who have been removed from the range are already held in government holding facilities, and the BLM intends to round up 12,000 more horses in FY 2010.

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In Defense of Animals is an international animal protection organization located in San Rafael, Calif. dedicated to protecting animals’ rights, welfare, and habitat through education, outreach, and our hands-on rescue facilities in Mumbai, India, Cameroon, Africa, and rural Mississippi.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
IN DEFENSE OF ANIMALS · 3010 KERNER BLVD.  · SAN RAFAEL, CA 94901 · 415-448-0048

Vicki | A Voice for Our Horses

 

Takin' It to the Street - And the Beltway Too

November 18, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

John Holland Equine Welfare Alliance 540.268.5693 john@equinewelfarealliance.org Ginger Kathrens The Cloud Foundation 719.633.4933 news@thecloudfoundation.org

Unified Call for an Immediate Moratorium on Wild Horse & Burro Roundups
CHICAGO, (EWA) – On November 18, 2009, American Citizens and partners in Canada, the United Kingdom and South Africa, delivered the following letter to the President, Congress and the Department of the Interior.


A Unified Call for an Immediate Moratorium on Wild Horse & Burro Roundups
And a humane, fiscally responsible plan for preserving and protecting the iconic,
free-roaming wild horses and burros of the American West President Obama, Members of Congress and the Department of the Interior:
We, the undersigned, request major changes to the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro program. This must begin with an immediate moratorium on all roundups. While we agree that the program is in dire need of reform, and we applaud your Administration's commitment to avoid BLM’s suggested mass-killing of horses, the plan outlined in October by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar raises numerous concerns. These include:

1. Perpetuating the flawed assumption that wild horses and burros are overpopulating their Western ranges. In reality, the BLM has no accurate current inventory of the 37,000 wild horses and burros it claims remain on public lands. Independent analysis of BLM’s own numbers reveal there may be only 15,000 wild horses remaining on public lands.
   
2. Continuing the mass removal of wild horses and burros from their rightful Western ranges: The BLM intends to spend over $30 million in Fiscal Year 2010 to capture more than 12,000 wild horses and burros. This stockpiling of horses continues even as an astounding 32,000 are already being held in government holding facilities at enormous taxpayer expense.
   
3. Scapegoating wild horses and burros for range deterioration even though they comprise only a tiny fraction of animals and wildlife grazing our public lands. Far greater damage is caused by privately-owned livestock, which outnumber the horses more than 100 to 1.
   
4. Moving wild horses and burros east off their Western homelands to “sanctuaries” in the east and Midwest at an initial cost of $96 million creates significant health concerns if animals adapted to western landscapes are managed on wet ground and rich grasses.

Removing tens of thousands of horses and burros from their legally-designated Western ranges and moving them into government-run facilities subverts the intent of the 1971 Wild Free-roaming Horse and Burro Act, which mandated that horses be preserved “where presently found.” A 2009 DC district court case held that “Congress did not authorize BLM to “manage” the wild horses and burros by corralling them for private maintenance or long-term care as non-wild free-roaming animals off the public lands.”
We appreciate your Administration's recognition of the horses’ value as an ecotourism resource. However, the display of captive, non-reproducing herds in eastern pastures renders them little more than zoo exhibits, further discounting the contribution to our history and the future of the American West.
We believe that workable solutions to create a healthy “multiple use” of public rangelands, protect the ecological balance of all wildlife, and preserve America's wild horses and burros in their rightful, legally protected home can be achieved. We are calling on the Obama Administration to reform the BLM's Wild Horse and Burro Management Program.
We ask that you reverse the current course and immediately take the following actions:

1. Place a moratorium on all roundups until accurate and independent assessments of population numbers and range conditions are made available and a final, long-term solution is formalized.
   
2. Restore protections included in the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act. Update existing laws that protect wild horses by reopening certain public lands to the mustangs and burros, thus decreasing the number in captivity. Return healthy wild horses and burros in holding to all available acres of public land designated primarily for their use in 1971. If these lands are not available, equivalent and appropriate western public lands should be added in their place.
   
3. Support federal grazing permit buybacks. Reduce livestock grazing and reanalyze appropriate management levels for herd management areas to allow for self-sustaining, genetically-viable herds to exist in the west.
   
4. Conduct Congressional hearings regarding the mismanagement of our wild herds and further investigate the inability of BLM to correct the shortcomings of the program as audited by the Government Accountability Office’s 1990, 1991 and 2008 reports.

Supported by the undersigned on November 16, 2009

Individuals - Go here to sign a petition for a moratorium.

Please note: The following groups and individuals were signatories on the petition at the time it was sent to President Obama. Additional groups and individuals are continuing to sign on. This list is produced in alphabetical order.

Autonomous Makana Ndlambe Horse & Livestock Association, South Africa
Adapting Gaits, Inc.
Alex Brown Racing
American Horse Defense Fund
Americans Against Horse Slaughter
Americans Against Horse Slaughter in Arizona
Andean Tapir Fund
Angel's Gate Hospice & Rehabilitation Home for Animals
Animal Healing Connection
Animal Health and Safety Associates/Pixie Projects
Animal Iridology Center
Animal Law Coalition
Animal Legal Defense Fund
Animals' Angels
Beauty's Haven Farm & Equine Rescue, Inc.
Brad Woodard, Reporter
Canadian Horse Defence Coalition
Castleton Ranch Horse Rescue, Inc.
Chantal Westermann, former ABC reporter
The Cloud Foundation
Colorado Wild Horse and Burro Coalition
The Conquistador Equine Rescue and Advocacy Program
Cornwalls Voice for Animals
Craig Downer, wildlife ecologist and author
Senator Dave Wanzenried, Montana
Deanne Stillman , Author of Mustang
DreamCatcher Wild Horse and Burro Sanctuary
Ed Harris & Family
Emthunzini
Equine Advocates
Equine Protection Network
Equine Rescue and Protection Humane Society of the US, Inc.
Equine Welfare Alliance
For the Love of Jenny Animal Rescue
For the Love of the Horse
Force of the Horse© LLC.
Friends of A Legacy
Front Range Equine Rescue
George Wuerthner, ecologist
Glen Glasscock (long distance rider, world record holder)
The Golden Carrot
Gray Dapple Thoroughbred Assistance Program
Greater Houston Horse Council
Gypsy Heart Horse Rescue
Habitat for Horses, Inc.
Hacienda de los Milagros, Inc.
The Healing Journey Rescue
Helping Hearts Equine Rescue, Inc.
Hidden Creek Friesians
Hidden Valley Wild Horse Protection Fund
Home At Last Equine Rescue and Sanctuary
Honeysuckle Farms
Hope Ryden, congressional advisor on 1971 Act, Author America's Last Wild Horses
Horse Play
Horse Power
Horse Rescue, Relief and Retirement Fund, Inc.
Horseback Magazine
Humanion Films
Illinois Equine Humane Center, NFP
In Defense of Animals
Joe Camp, filmmaker, author The Soul of A Horse
Journey's End Ranch Animal Sanctuary
KBR World of Wild Horses and Burros
Lacy J. Dalton, singer/songwriter
Laura Leigh , Illustrator/writer
Least Resistance Training Concepts (LRTC)
Let 'em Run
Lifesavers, Inc.
Live and Let Live Farm Rescue
Madeleine's Mustangs - Madeleine Pickens
Manes and Tails Organization
Maria Daines , Singer/Songwriter
Mary Ann Kennedy, Singer/Songwriter
MidAtlantic Horse Rescue
Mustang Spirit
Mylestone Equine Rescue
Native American Church of Ghost Dancers
Natural Horse Magazine
Natural Horse Talk
Old Friends Equine , A Kentucky Thoroughbred Retirement Facility
Paul Sorvino, Actor
Paula Bacon, former mayor of Kaufman, TX
Proud Spirit Horse Sanctuary
Quarter-Acre Rescue Ranch & Equine Advocacy Center
Rainbow Meadows Rescue and Retirement, Inc.
Redwings Horse Sanctuary
Reinfree.org | Mestengo
The Rescue Friends
Sacred Heart Equine Rescue
Santiburi Farm
Saving America's Horses A Nation Betrayed
Saving America's Mustangs
Saving Horses, Inc.
Saving Our American Wild Horse
Second Chance Ranch
Silent Voices Equine Rescue
South Florida Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
Spirit Riders Foundation
Spoiled Acres Rescue Inc.
Spring Farm CARES Animal Sanctuary
Star Lit Stables
Summer Haven Rescue
Sustainable Obtainable Solutions
Terri Farley , author of The Phantom Stallion Series
Tranquility Farm
Triple H Miniature Horse Rescue
trueCOWBOYmagazine
Wayne McCrory, Wildlife Biologist and Conservationist
Wendie Malick, Actress
Valhalla Wilderness Society
WFL Endangered Stream Live
Whispering Winds Equine Rescue
Wild Burro Rescue and Preservation Project
Wild For Life Foundation
Wild Hoofbeats
Wild Horse Observers Association
Wild Horse Preservation League
Wild Horse Spirit
Wild Horse War Room
Wild Horses In Need
Win Animal Rights
Wind Dancer Foundation, Inc.
Winecup/Gamble Ranch

Horse Slaughter: Fact Sheet - International Fund for Horses

Horse Slaughter Fact Sheet-Int'l Fund for Horses

HORSE SLAUGHTER: FACT SHEET

Introduction

There is a silent spectre that haunts our horses, and one that many Americans are still unaware of. Every week our young, healthy horses are sent across our borders to be slaughtered for human consumption overseas.

The largest number are Quarter Horses, although Thoroughbred race horses, and even some of our wild Mustangs are routinely slaughtered. Their meat is processed, freeze packed and shipped to countries like Belgium, France, Italy and Japan, where horse meat is considered a delicacy.

Why does this industry still exist?

Short Answer: There is a demand for it.

Horse slaughter exists for one reason and one reason only — for the sole purpose of providing horse meat for human consumption to those who eat it.

Although the number of horses slaughtered declined sharply for a period of years, there has been a recent resurgence in demand.

Horse meat is viewed as "clean meat" and a good alternative to beef and other traditional meats because of BSE and other contamination scares.

Europeans and Asians who consume horse flesh are willing to pay a high price for American horse meat, which is described by butchers and purveyors of horse meat as the very best on the market.

"I only buy American meat, which is red and firm. In butchering terms we call it 'well-structured', the best you can get. Out of a thousand animals, only the American ones are really worth buying. But they don’t eat horse meat in America. They raise horses for foreigners."

~ Quote from a Butcher in France

How many horses are slaughtered from the United States?

Initially, fewer U.S. horses were killed for their meat with the closure of three U.S. horse-slaughter plants in Illinois and Texas for violating state laws in 2007.

According to the USDA, however, nearly 100,000 equines were exported from U.S. to Mexico and Canada to be butchered in 2008. 2009 will see a further increase in that number.

Those are the ones who are counted.

Our wild horses and being slaughtered, but because the BLM fails to brand and accurately track them, the number cannot be reliably known.

Where do the horses come from?

Horses are not raised for slaughter as they are not traditional food animals, so they must be bought. Licensed horse dealers, known as "killer buyers," act as middlemen for the slaughterhouses and frequent the auctions where horses are sold.

Mass quantities of horses are bought by these dealers at unbelievably cheap prices, who then transport the horses and resell them to the slaughterhouses for profit.

Many times an auction house and the dealer will not turn away an unfit animal, because as long as it can live till it gets to a slaughterhouse, they can be killed for their hides. These horses are called "skinners." Slaughterhouses typically have a tannery either on site or nearby for this reason.

A number of the horses who end up at slaughterhouses are stolen, and can disappear without a trace.

However, statistics from one of the largest groups that assist owners in the recovery of their stolen horses, Stolen Horse International (netposse.org) show that approximately 60% of stolen horses are killed at slaughter plants.

What type of horses are slaughtered?

Horses of virtually all ages and breeds are slaughtered, from draft types to miniatures.

Horses commonly slaughtered include unsuccessful race horses, horses who are lame or ill, surplus riding school and camp horses, mares whose foals are not economically valuable, and foals cast off by the Pregnant Mare Urine (PMU) industry, which produces the estrogen-replacement drug Premarin®.

Ponies, mules, and donkeys are slaughtered as well.

A vast majority purchased for slaughter are in good health and bought for only a few hundred dollars.

How do horses get to the slaughterhouses?

Horses are transported, often thousand of miles, from all over the country for export in double-decker trailers designed for cattle in all types of weather with no food or water.

Often there is not enough clearance for the horses to hold their heads in a fully upright position.

No consideration is given to the gender or the condition of the horses as they are crammed into these trucks.

Horses are often injured and some even arrive at the slaughterhouse dead.


How are the horses killed?

United States

The ones who survive the ordeal of transportation are held in pens until it is their turn to be butchered. The horses stand in the killing line smelling the blood, sensing the terror ahead. They are electrocuted or speared into the "kill box" where they shake violently, falling, unable to stand from fear.

Under federal law, horses are required to be rendered unconscious prior to slaughter, usually with a device called a captive bolt gun, which shoots a metal rod into the horse's brain. Prior to the closure of the U.S. horse slaughter plants, it was not uncommon for horses to be improperly

Captive-bolt gun Image via Wikipedia

stunned and therefore conscious when they were hoisted by a rear leg to have their throats cut.

A major misconception is that animals being readied for slaughter are stunned with a captive bolt in order to make the process more humane. The fact is, the captive bolt stunning mechanism was designed to protect slaughterhouse workers from the flailing limbs of terrified animals and increase the speed of the production line.

Mexico and Canada

With the export of horses to slaughter increasing more than 300 percent, undercover footage shows live horses being dragged, whipped, and crammed into trucks in 110 degrees on their way to a horrific form of slaughter in Mexico and Canada.

These horses are stabbed multiple times in the neck with a "puntilla knife" to sever their spinal cords. This procedure does not render the horse unconscious, and it is not a stunning method.

Rather, it paralyzes the horse, leaving him/her twitching on the ground, unable to move or breathe, and then the animal dies from suffocation (because their lungs stop working) or from blood loss and dismemberment.

Conditions in the slaughterhouse—inside and outside of our borders—are stressful and extremely frightening for horses.

If horse slaughter is banned, where will all the horses go?

The number of horses slaughtered in 1990 was a staggering 350,000, a number that dropped to an all time low of 42,000 in 2002. Between 1992 and 1993 alone, the number of horses slaughtered dropped 79,000. These decreases did not create a glut of "unwanted horses." Society absorbed these horses, and the market remained stable, just as it will when horse slaughter is eliminated altogether.

The phrase "unwanted horses" is a myth created by horse slaughter supporters. The number of horses slaughtered each year is the one used by them to arrive at the number of so-called "unwanted horses" for the same time period. In actuality, the number of horses slaughtered each year is the number of horses the horse slaughter plants have the capacity to butcher and process.

There are many alternatives to horse slaughter. Horses can be given another chance at life through retraining and adoption programs as pleasure horses, with rescues, retirement homes, and sanctuaries. Horses can also enjoy second careers as Mounted Police horses, at riding schools and as therapy horses.

If a horse becomes old, infirm or mortally ill, then the horse should be euthanized by a qualified veterinarian. There are a wide variety of options for disposing of their bodies that range from the costly to economical. These include burial (where permitted), cremation, rendering, composting and landfills.

Texas A&M, in response to this question, released a special report on composting as a viable alternative that would be both environmentally and politically beneficial, predicting that this could become a big market when horse slaughter is banned.

If horse slaughter or export for slaughter is banned, won't abuse and neglect increase?

California banned horse slaughter in 1998. California has experienced no increase in abuse case, and even noted a decrease 3 years following the ban.

During the 4 years that Cavel was closed, Illinois saw a noticeable decrease in abuse and/or neglect cases. Texas, which had the only two slaughter plants in 2003, had among the nation's highest rates of cruelty and theft.

The conclusion is clear – horse slaughter does not decrease abuse and neglect but actually encourages it.

What Can I Do To Help?

Support organizations like ours working to put an end to horse slaughter and export for slaughter.

Be a responsible horse owner.

Sponsor the care of a horse in a horse rescue or sanctuary.

Think carefully before breeding a mare and consider adopting your next horse from an equine rescue organization.

Plan for your horse's eventual death by setting aside funds for humane euthanasia by a veterinarian, in case it becomes necessary.

Menopausal women on hormone replacement therapy should ask their doctors to prescribe one of the many safe and effective, FDA-approved alternatives to Premarin®.